Mass Effect: Space Rhapsody
by popehippo
Summary: A human captain, a drell pilot, a turian XO, a batarian medic, and a salarian mechanic. The Aegis is an unusual crew with an odd set of skills, trying to keep their heads low and their credits plenty. But as the conflict with the Reapers begins, they have to stick together to face a dangerous future. Original Character cast set among the events of ME1 and onwards.
1. Chapter 1

If one thought about it often enough, space and the concept of freedom were quite alike.

Both believed to be endless and positive, but in the end both were possibly just as restrictive and dangerous as the things people sought to escape from.

FTL travel had made it possible for millions and millions of people to see the galaxy with their own eyes. To see the icy peaks of Noveria and feel the bite of its wind, or to see the low valleys of Rakhana and marvel at the crumbling ruins of its once proud cities. To glance out the window and see a star going supernova, to see constellations that were familiar and alien all at once. To see thousands of planets among hundreds of star clusters, to meet millions of people, to experience countless new cultures. All of this and more, and all you had to do was head to the relay. Simple as that.

For many, it was a wistful fairy tail. Stuck in the slums of their homeworlds or in some dead-end job on a colony or maybe just needing a change of pace, they all turned their eyes to the skies and thought about the same thing.

Freedom.

What you wanted to be free from wasn't really important. Freedom from your past, your future, your people, maybe even yourself. All you needed, it seemed, was a ship.

But then a ship needs a crew to fly it.

And a crew needs just one thing.

Pay.

* * *

On board the _Aegis_, Athena glanced over the face of a killer.

More specifically, she was staring at the picture of a killer listed for reward with the usual dead or alive notice for a hefty sum of credits, posted this time by the Blue Suns. It was the fifth time in just under a month she'd seen this turian listed as up for grabs, and she was starting to consider whether or not the water supply of the galaxy had been tainted with hallucinogens. Or maybe there was some sort of brain-eating virus she hadn't heard about. Something had to explain this lunacy.

Dark grey eyes narrowed at the datapad as she marched into the cargo bay of the _Aegis_, where her crew awaited her.

"No hoax. It's really him," she called to them.

The announcement prompted a collective groan.

"Let me see that," said Atropo, her pilot, snatching it with one hand as the other played with the gold clips along his facial frills. The metal decorations clinked against each other, sounding about as hollow as the crew. She wanted to snap at him to knock it off, but she knew that the sound was just the result of his fidgety habits, and those were just result of being hungry.

And God help them, they were all hungry. In their line of work, money was never that stable and that meant neither was the amount of groceries. The crew had skipped dinner more than once; it was just part of the job for them. But it had been nearly a week since even the credit chits found between the cushions had dried up, and nearly a month since their last profitable turn-in.

They were becoming desperate.

"Do they really think we're this stupid? _Saren Arterius?_" groaned the young drell in annoyance, waving the pad like incriminating evidence in a courtroom. "They want us to chase after a Spectre? No, _the_ Spectre? And why is he even listed? I thought Spectres were like the paragons of virtue."

"I've heard rumors of bad things."

Athena turned to look at the muscle of her crew and her XO; the turian by the name of Junius. Tall even for his race, he had to bend down low to read from over Atropo's shoulder, his deep voice humming in thought.

"An old friend I message now and again told me she had heard things on the Citadel. That he's on the run after doing something, though she didn't seem to know what." He tilted his head to the side and scratched his chin with a wondering look to his face, adding, "But she said it had something to do with some other new Spectre."

Athena rolled her eyes. "He probably got caught smuggling protein bars or something."

Atropo moaned and clutched his arms around his stomach. "Don't mention protein bars, captain, please."

"Noted." Athena snatched the datapad from him and read through the rest of the possible marks again. Besides the definitely deadly Spectre, there were a few other potentials around the Terminus systems. But almost every subject was in batarian space, the one place everyone on the _Aegis_ agreed was off limits, or they were already reported as dead or captured. That left this Saren guy and even she wasn't so desperate as to make an attempt at a man who hadn't exactly made his reputation out of being cuddly.

No posts, no jobs. No jobs, no money. No money-

"We are going to be a taxi for a while, aren't we," sighed Tyenki from her seat on the floor, predicting her human captain's mind before Athena even had the thought... a common if annoying salarian habit.

Athena gave her a nod, causing Atropo to whine anew and Junius to sigh. Tyenki merely shook her head and continued cleaning her tools one by one and organizing them back into their case with surgeon-like precision. This wouldn't have been weird if they weren't already spotlessly clean.

"You remember, what happened last time? Because I do," she reminded her captain.

"Me, too," grumbled Atropo disdainfully. His dark eyes narrowed until only the reds of his irises could be seen as his picture perfect memory passed through his mind. The clips along his facial cowl clinked together noisily when he shuddered. "We really should double check to make sure the people we transport aren't, oh I don't know, pyromaniacs."

"One damn time, and it was just _your_ room!" Athena snapped, stabbing a finger in the his direction.

Her very qualified and mature pilot stuck his tongue out at her.

Her omnitool appeared on her wrist with a chirp. Turning it on, Athena replied, "Captain speaking."

"_You're cleared for docking, _Aegis_. You are prepaid for 5 hours but after that you will face additional fines."_

"And who do I bribe to get those fines reduced?"

"_Per Omega law, bribes legally can't be accepted, but if you wish to learn more on that subject, you'll want to speak with me.."_

"Good to know. Talk to you later." She shut off her omnitool and stood up to face her crew.

"Burning to death is a whole lot quicker than starving. Come on, people, let's go find us some tourists. We'll find more if we're split up. Atropo, Junius, you go together to the docks and see if anyone needs a cheap ride. I'll do the same. Tyenki, you go get the doctor and hit the markets, see if you two can't find some easy cargo to haul in the meanwhile. Call me if you run into trouble."

The crew grumbled a bit but got up as ordered, walking up the stairs and to their quarters to go get dressed proper. When they had to actually be somewhat charming to possible customers, it helped if they at least tried their best to look like trustworthy people you'd trust with your life when trapped in a tin can in space.

Once alone, Athena sighed and ran a hand through her hair. The dark mass was never very tame and today seemed to be no exception; lacking the patience to fight with it, she left it be in a messy bun.

Just i case she forgot, her stomach gave a loud rumble to remind her to get ready herself.

_Never believe what you see on the extranet about freelancing being the high life,_ she thought, and not for the first time, as she headed for her own quarters. If she was lucky, they would find a few eager riders, or a decent amount of cargo to carry somewhere. Maybe she'd call up that old information broker on Illium and see what he had for her in the way of the black market. Smuggling was not the most exciting day job, but it didn't matter to her at this point. If it paid, she'd do it, so long as she got to turn her back on this lawless hellhole.

She'd wasted enough of her life here.

* * *

"Please!"

"Look, I said it already; I'll say it again. We only take payment in form of credits only."

"But I don't have any!"

"Credits. Only."

"Have mercy!"

Oy vey.

People of all species swarmed around cargo and schedules like flies on a picnic, greedily guarding their goods. The only ones not scurrying around were the guards, Aria's own private police force. While Omega had no real laws, its queen knew how commerce worked, and commerce only worked when there was a minimum of fistfights and shootouts over who got what cut.

With the combo of the merchant's squeaky voice and her aching stomach, Athena's headache was slowly budding into a full blown migraine. When she had first heard his offer of trading a box of cargo for personal transport, she'd been elated. Maybe he had some fine food ingredients, asari paid out the ass for the exotic stuff. Or maybe salarian silk, some of the softest in all the known galaxy. Hell she'd take krogan testes; they'd go to market like hotcakes.

What he was offering were shoes. Just... plain, run of the mill human shoes.

_Dinner!_ she reminded herself, using the word like a prayer to keep her temper at bay. _Hot dumplings with seared beef. Veggies that taste like veggies and not like styrofoam. Real beef, not the freeze-dried fake sort we usually get, real beef right off a real cow. And with that, we'll drink telno cider until we turn funny colors and ruin the carpet of the nearest bar._

To the potential customer, she offered a smile so fake it hurt her face to wear it. "But see, sir, I can't really use shoes to pay for the fuel to take you anywhere."

"I just gotta get to Eden Prime, lady," groaned the desperate little man, rubbing his hands together so nervously his palms were turning a nasty shade of red. "Please, the news all over is saying they got hit by some sort of attack, aliens or terrorists or something. My sister and her family are there. I'll do anything to go see if any of them are okay!" His eyes began to tear up and sweat beaded his forehead, the final touches on a perfect portrait of helplessness. "Please!"

The young captain carefully eyed the stranger as she considered her options. And it seemed there were only two of them. Leave him or take him.

"How many shoes you got?" she asked after a long moment, throwing in a sigh for good measure.

"Nearly a dozen for us normal folk..."

He balked and looked around him, catching his words just a bit too late. But in the busy swarm of Omega traffic, no one had seemed to hear, and he visibly relaxed a hair.

"I've got a few turian pairs left. One set left for an elcor, if you know any," he added hopefully, the 'please' going unspoken but still hanging desperately in his tone. "You can have them all, it's all I've got left."

The captain groaned, grumbling at her own faults. Why was she so easy to butter up? Why? "Dock 56, the _Aegis_, look for a red drell with too much metal in his face."

The human let out a shocked gasp and flung his arms around her, hugging her so tightly her breath escaped her in a sharp grunt.

"Thank you, thank you! Oh, you won't regret this, ma'am." He picked up his box and started to head towards the docked spaceships, leaving her alone in the large marketplace, surrounded by the crowds. So with the shoe peddler, that made...

One passenger.

Fantastic.

Maybe it wasn't too late to consider other options. Athena shuddered at the idea they might have to take up some wet work. Criminals were one thing... they were nearly always crooks and murderers, you didn't have to feel bad about taking them down. But assassin work was dirty, not just because of the violence involved, but because of who usually ended up dead. Not everyone who had enemies deserved them. And jobs for mercs tended to lean towards the 'survival of the fittest' mentality, not just among the mercs themselves but those who tended to hire them. The employer wouldn't even blink when your head got blown off on some remote planet, never seeing a chit of those promised credits. Once they'd cleaned up the body, they'd just hire some other greenhorn who thought they were too smart and cool to die like you.

All this, she knew firsthand.

As Athena started to think about which of her personal items and clothes would still be of value at the nearest pawn shop, something hit her from behind with enough force to knock her to the ground. Her hands caught her, preventing a nasty encounter from the floor and her skull, as well as any other major damage other than sore palms and knees. But the audacity of the assault was enough to override her hunger and send her springing back to her feet with a spitting mad temper.

"Watch where you're going, moron!"

"N-no!"

Her attacker held up their hands in defense, and as such they were the first things Athena took notice of. Slim tan fingers with dark fingernails and scaled skin, the middle digit seemingly formed out of two fused fingers. _Drell_, her mind registered immediately. But they didn't seem like any drell she'd seen... not that she'd seen more than a handful, other than the annoying bastard who flew her ship. Atropo was all angles and loud colors, quite tall and thin under his fashionable clothes. This one was small and rounder in the face and body though still as flat-chested as any human boy; instead of the bright reds Athena associated with Atropo, the stranger was varied shades of tan and brown. And judging from the expression on their face, they were scared out of their mind.

"Can I help you?" asked Athena, rubbing her sore shoulder. With that force, the alien had either done it intentionally or was running too hard to notice. And if it was the latter, then they were badly trying to get away from something. That thought made her inner thoughts groan; she really didn't want to deal with someone else's shit this early into her day. "Better yet, can you be helped?"

The drell paused for breath, shaking all over. Their words came out in a trembling whisper, "Please. Please."

Their voice was softer too underneath all that grating that was a trait of their species... Athena would even dare say it sounded downright feminine. A lady? Drell were so rare outside of the hanar systems she'd honestly never met a woman.

_You're going by human standards, _she reminded herself as the stranger sat down as well, their arms wrapped around their body as they looked around like nervous pyjak. _Who's to say lady drell don't have four legs and sound like a wood chipper?_

For now, she assumed male. After all, there was a fifty-fifty chance she was right.

To the drell himself, she asked, "What's wrong?"

"I have to get away, to get off the station," said her new companion, "as soon as possible."

Oh.

Oh what was this?

Athena leaned in closer, doing her best to look friendly and open. After all she had just met her possible meal ticket. "Where to?"

The drell turned to face her. Most of his eyes were the same encompassing black as Atropo's... but the irises were a mix of warm browns, with little flicks of yellow decorating the edges. For a moment, Athena forgot about the ship and even the money, and found herself lost in the colors. While it was impossible for Omega to have sunrises and sunsets, sometimes it caught the edge of the a hanging tier of the asteroid or glared off a ship just right, and if you were lucky enough to have a view with a window, you could see all the colors she was seeing now in the unknown drell's eyes.

It was beautiful.

"As soon as possible," said the alien, his voice bringing Athena out of her distraction. "D-do you know of any ships leaving soon?"

"Huh? Oh! Um, er, yes I actually do." Athena replied with all the practiced suaveness of an experienced salesman, "I'm Athena, captain of the _Aegis_, and we're looking to leave by the end of the day." She held out her hand in greeting.

The stranger didn't take it, only glancing to the open palm before looking back up to the human's face and asking quietly, "Can I convince you to leave earlier?" Even with the natural grating of drell voices, it was hard to miss the waver in his tone, or to ignore how he kept looking around as if expecting an attack.

What was this person so afraid of?

"Are you willing to pay?" asked Athena, arching an eyebrow.

Reaching into his pocket, the drell took out a credit chit and handed it to Athena. "You can have this, all of it, if you can get me off the station in an hour."

In the surrounding crowds to their right, some shouts could be heard, and the stranger nearly jumped out of his scaly skin. "O-only if we leave now!"

"I don't think we can..." Athena's voice drifted off as she ran the chit through her omnitool's scanner and glanced at the amount of money on it.

The amount made her heart skip a beat or three.

It was enough to buy fuel, food and possibly a nice little house on the Citadel. It was more money than every bounty she had turned in for that year combined. Holy shit. _Holy shit_. Money had a way of talking, and at that amount, the captain was willing to give it her ear. Or both of them. In a box with a bow.

"Well then!" she said to her new best friend, standing and taking him by the arm to lead the frightened little man to the docks. "Let's head on down then and we'll see if we can't get you the, uh, luxury suite-"

A gunshot rang out over the crowd. Almost as one, the mass of people ducked down, including the captain and the drell. Over the scared shouts, Athena heard a batarian voice yelling angrily, and she wondered whether it was the shooter or Aria's guards leaping into action.

The drell let out a sound, something caught between a squeak and a sob. "We have to go!"

For the first time, Athena eyed him suspiciously. She wasn't usually one to look a gift horse in the mouth, but...

"This way," she murmured, ducking her head down to maneuver through the throng of frightened people. Behind them, she could hear shouts among heated arguments, though no more gunshots... at least for now. But she knew the sort of tone those voices carried, and knew it well. It was the sort of angry tone that didn't belong to someone shooting for the sake of shooting; clearly they were searching for something, something that would have reason to flee from a gunshot. Or, Athena considered as she snuck around the people and luggage, someone.

"There!"

Glancing over her shoulder, Athena saw a muscled batarian, pointing a finger of the direction of her and the drell. Well, shit.

The drell shouted at the sight and began to sprint for the docking bays, leaving her in the dust.

"Hey wait!" called Athena and, against her best judgment, began to follow. The man was panicking, fear putting speed into his gait as he pushed through the increasingly agitated crowd. Athena was barely able to keep up, swerving through the winding path of people that her meal ticket was leaving behind him. And even further behind, the batarian was starting to catch up, possibly because of the way he was shooting blindly at their backs and screaming for them to stop.

_Why can't anything ever be easy?_

* * *

"You don't need it."

"Says you."

"It isn't really necessary."

Atropo glared at the old turian looming behind him. "You also say a lot of the stuff we want isn't necessary. Like, say, more than one outfit to wear. Or comfortable shoes. Or a brand new set of micro-welders."

The latter were the subject of the argument, as well as being the object of his growing desire. Just the thought of applying those shiny new tools to his seat in the cockpit was tempting to the point of being sinful; the squeaking of the chair when he swiveled around and laid back was like being forced to listen to varrens in heat. No, worse. At least the varrens shut up after a week or so. True, his habit of playing music through the console so loudly he could barely sometimes listen to himself think usually covered it up. But he swore he could still hear it, just a tiny bit, under the beat of his beloved tunes, utterly ruining the experience. And that alone was infuriating.

Junius shook his head at the drell and turned his attention back to the crowd, looking for potential clients. A perfect opportunity. Atropo reached out his left hand to the tools and the right to the credit chit in his pocket. He had just a handful left that nobody knew about, a small cache he'd been holding onto just in case things had gotten truly serious, but this was pretty important, surely-

"Atropo!"

Both crewmen jumped at a shout from the familiar voice, looking over in the direction of their captain as she came barrelling through the crowd. Ahead of her was a drell, running blindly with a look of pure terror. At the sight of Atropo, the approaching stranger shouted, "Don't let them take me! I won't go!"

"Wha-" Atropo stuttered as his fellow drell ducked behind him, using him as a shield, while Athena came to a halt in front of him. "Hey! Athena? What in the name of the damned gods is going on here-"

"Stop right there!"

One of the ongoing mysteries in Atropo's life was why everyone who chased the captain around shouted at the top of their voices like actors on a bad asari soap opera. It seemed almost obsessive. This time it was a group of batarians, each of them wearing a nasty scowl on their wrinkled ugly faces, and each of them bearing arms. Atropo glanced to his boss; the human woman was still catching a little bit of breath, glancing from the drell behind him to the batarians with a frown to match theirs. Clearly she was every bit as confused as he was and doubly annoyed.

It was Junius who finally broke the silence. Stepping forward, the tall turian asked calmly, hands spread palm-upwards in a universal gesture of peace, "Can we help you?"

The batarians glanced to him and, after a moment, lowered their weapons. Atropo had to give him that, you could always count on the elder turian to step in as the mediator... Maybe it was just an old person thing. Or maybe it was the fact that Junius was roughly six and a half feet and two hundred pounds of muscle and carapace.

"You have our property," growled the leader of the group. At least, Atropo assumed he was the leader. He was the ugliest of the bunch, so he had that going for him. The four-eyed alien pointed just to the side of Atropo, where the other drell was peeking around his hip. "He belongs to us."

"Are you telling me he's a slave?" asked Athena. "Look, I-"

"She."

The human and batarians alike swung their heads to stare at Atropo.

"What?"

"She." He jerked a thumb to the subject of the conversation, who was still cowering behind him. "Your slave is a female."

The batarian's frustrated expression disappeared for a moment as it was lost in surprise. "Really?" But he recovered quickly, shaking his head and raising his weapon again. "Whatever! He- _she's_ my property. I'll bet she gave you some money, right? Well, it's mine." He pointed to a flush bruise on his cheek, snarling, "She punched me and made a run for it. If you fly her out of here, I'll have you and your friends taken down for theft of property before your sorry asses reach the relay. And that's if I don't shoot down your damn ship first."

Athena's focus shifted back to the slaver. Atropo recognized the expression on her face; she was weighing the options, good and bad. She had a good head on her shoulders, he knew, she'd pick the right one. This was ridiculous, what could they do? There wasn't much they could do for a total stranger like this. The captain would realize-

"I'll take her off your hands for you."

Or she'd pick the completely ridiculous option instead.

The slaver blinked at her with all four eyes. He looked nearly as caught off guard as Atropo. "What?"

"Your _slave_ roughed me up a bit over there. Look at hi- _her_." The captain waved a hand to the woman, shaking her head as though ashamed at the mere sight of her. "She's little, not very beefy at all, and it looks like she's already a runner. What worth is she in a rough place like this, hm? Do you _really_ want her around?"

"What does it matter to you?"

"I'm just saying, look at it this way. I'm returning your money to you now, and it's all there if you want to check." She pulled the chit out of her pocket and handed it back to the owner. "Not to mention the fact that I'm willing to take a troublesome lizard off of your hands. You've heard they've got perfect memory, right?"

The batarian narrowed his eyes suspiciously. But he was clearly considering her words, finally putting the pistol away in a holster. "Yes..."

"Think about it. She's already seen your credit numbers, your face, and more. Do you really want a slave who can't forget anything? One who can memorize all those things you say about your boss when you think no one will remember, or who will remember your pin number you use for the collar controls? All the best escape routes? All the little secrets that they overhear and may spill to someone else? It doesn't really seem all that great for business security, if you ask me."

Athena's smirk was a cocky one, hands on her hips and eyebrows arched in a typical human pose of defiance, one that she sported often. She was confident that she'd win this, it seemed.

_Or,_ Atropo considered, _she wants them to think that she's sure about this._

The batarians looked questioningly at each other, the two lackeys shrugging at the leader. "And what do you get out of it, human?"

Athena didn't reply at first, merely glancing at the cowering female before focusing back on the batarians, a rather shady smile spreading on her face that sent prickles down Atropo's skin. "I'll find a use for her."

The slaver sneered. "Freak. Fine, whatever. She's already more trouble than I give a fuck about. Take her, take her and go!" He waved them off with a hand and turned, leaving the small group alone in silence before Athena finally broke it with a heavy sigh.

"Holy shit, I can't believe they fell for that crap," she groaned.

"You totally just pulled that out of your ass, didn't you?" laughed Atropo. He had to give it to humans, when they wanted to con you into something, they could be so good at lying they'd make you think they had a ship to sell you on the other side of the Omega 4 relay. Creative, for a bunch of hairy softies, and Athena was exceptionally good at it.

"Oh, most definitely... But the bad news is, that means I just lost our meal ticket."

"On the positive side, we didn't get shot in the face," Junius pointed out.

Athena sighed. Under her breath, Atropo heard her mumble something about steak. The captain quickly pulled herself together and glanced toward the slave.

"What's your name?" she asked, her tone all business.

The woman blinked and slowly came out from her hiding spot behind Atropo. "Vesta. Vesta Soren." She seemed to be still in shock. Atropo didn't blame her; he still wasn't entirely sure what he'd just seen.

_I should be used to this by now, really_, he scolded himself with a snort.

"Cool," said Athena with a nod. "You're free to go."

A few moments passed and no one moved or spoke.

"I said you're free to go," Athena repeated, a tint of confusion in her voice, pointing out to the crowds that were still bustling around them as if nothing had happened. Slavery shakedowns? Nothing new to the proud rotters of Omega. "You know, free? You know what free is, right?"

"Yes! I just... I don't know where to go... from here," replied Vesta. She had started to rub her hands nervously. "I-I don't live in this place. I was just brought here by-"

Her body seized up, widened eyes staring out into open air. Atropo recognized the signs immediately, as any drell would, of someone falling into memory.

"Hands and limbs exchanging credits, voices muttering and chiming in discussion. Buying. Selling. Selling _me._" Her voice hitched with emotion. "You can't do this! Please. Please, please, don't leave me. Have mercy. I beg him not to go. He ignores me, leaving me behind..."

The flashback ending, Vesta's body slackened and she wrapped her arms around her thin body, as if trying to secure herself in the real world.

Junius stepped forward and wrapped an arm around her, letting her lean against him for support. "It's all right. You don't have to explain." He waited until she nodded silently before looking back towards his captain. "Athena-"

The human held up a hand to stop him before he began. "Junius, don't lecture me... we can't. I wanted to help her out, not adopt her. It's not fair to her, or us! The whole reason we're here right now is because we need money. How are we going to keep another mouth to feed on board?"

"And we have passengers," offered Junius. "Sula called just before this; she has several passengers lined up, as do Atropo and I."

"I said-"

The pair was interrupted by Vesta's small voice.

"I can cook. Clean. Keep records." She straightened herself - not that it helped much, she wasn't even as tall as Athena, an average sized human - and was clearly trying to sound more confident. "I don't have to eat very much. I-I promise... I can pull my own weight. And if you will just take me to the nearest colony, I can... I can make my way from there. But I don't want to stay here. This station is..." She paused and, after some thought, sighed. "I can't even think up a word to describe how miserable this place has made me since I stepped on it."

Atropo glanced to his captain. Athena was staring at Vesta, her eyes cold and still.

"I can think of a few myself, trust me," she muttered. Sighing, she turned toward the _Aegis_. "Come on then. Sula is going to flip when she hears this, so we might as well tell her sooner than later."

Offering Vesta a kind smile, Junius followed after the human, the drell girl still holding onto his arm with a look on her face as if she was caught in a dream. Lagging behind them, Atropo just shook his head at the entire situation.

Come to Omega to find credits and food, and get a slave instead. One more person to feed in a cramped old ship full of hungry people with nowhere to go and nothing to do.

Yeah, that sounded like their usual luck. Atropo shook his head, gave the micro-welders one last longing look, and followed his captain back home.


	2. Chapter 2

_Fear._

_Fear, desperation, disbelief. Emotions, tumbling over themselves inside her, like a hurricane whirling over the Encompassing. Hands and limbs exchanging credits, voices muttering and chiming in discussion. Buying. Selling._

_"You can't do this!" Her own voice, pleading, trembling with shock. This can't be happening. It can't. "Please. Please don't leave me. Don't do this."_

_Cubozoa will not even face her. The prism colors of his body language are silent to her eyes. Instead, he speaks to the buyer, "This one will take your payment now. As for the rest of the cargo, please transfer it to the transport as swiftly as possible. Business has been enjoyable."_

_"You heard the jelly." A batarian, hands hot and clammy, grabbing her shoulders and yanking her back. Yellow teeth as sharp and fine as needles. They gleam hungrily, excitedly. __S__he struggles and calls out to Cubozoa by his face name, his soul name, anything, praying he'll respond to something. But her friend is retreating, mauve body mixing into the crowd as he exits the slave market. He is abandoning her to this place of sorrows._

_The mournful cries of the abandoned echo through the cargo bay. Hands reach out for someone and find nothing. She can hardly breathe, hardly focus, the shapes of the people and architecture blurring together together as the tears __that __cannot be held back blind her. Limp with fear, she is pulled up to her feet, the sweaty hands dragging her away. Her lips are mouthing the words she cannot put voice to. Speaking to ears that will not listen._

_In a glimpse, she sees the credit chit in his hands, the one that tells him how much her life is worth._

_She has only one chance._

* * *

Vesta woke with a gasp, sitting straight up from the cot on the floor, her breath hard and shallow.

It took her a moment to realize that she had been asleep. It wasn't common for drell to dream. With near perfect memories, their minds didn't have to go through the process of gathering up stray thoughts and forgotten moments... but some visions refused to let go. Especially bad ones. The memories still swirled around her head like dark clouds. Shaking her head free of them, she got to her feet and took in her surroundings.

She was no longer in the dark halls of the slave market but in a dimly lit room aboard the ship. What had the captain called it? The _Aegis. _After being given food and water and a change of clothes, she'd been allowed to sleep and had been in the pile of blankets given to her ever since. Other passengers who had paid their way on board were still sleeping as well; it was a small group of humans, a batarian, and an asari, and they all looked like civilians. They slept uneasily in sleeping bags or makeshift hammocks. The _Aegis _was not built with passenger comfort in mind, it seemed. The "guest" room was cramped, meaning they slept on the floor or against crates, wherever room could be found. But there were no slavers. No cages. No Cubozoa.

For the first time in days, she felt safe.

Her head ached. She rubbed her palm along her bald skull as she stood. Her loaned clothing felt stiff and itchy, rubbing against her dry skin uncomfortably. There had been no chance to bathe yet; they had left the station shortly after the whole mess with the human captain and Vesta's now former owner.

Owner. Even thinking the word made her gut lurch with disgust and anger.

Or maybe it was hunger. A loud growl seemed to solidify that possibility. Quietly, she tip-toed through the ship and took stock of her surroundings.

It was an MSV freighter, that much she could tell right off the bat. What had the turian called it as they'd come aboard? Kowloon class, if she was right; a human design where the ship itself was basically one long line of engine and other necessary components while large metal compartments that could be attached and unattached with ease. The compartments could be used for cargo space, rooms, whatever the crew had need of. It also meant that if such a freighter came under pirate attack, they could jettison themselves or their cargo, scattering them to be found again later. An ingenious yet such a basic design by a fairly recent newcomer to the galactic stage, the rest of Citadel space had taken to them quickly.

The cargo bay took up a great portion of the back of the _Aegis,_ with a large open space and then smaller compartments along the sides, some of which the other passengers had been allowed to turn into makeshift guest rooms during their trip. The rest of the area was mostly empty with a scant amount of odd items neatly stacked against the walls; a beat-up aerocycle, several space suits for outside repair, cleaning tools here and there. A shuttle sat in the center of the room. It looked like it had seen better days.

Vesta wasn't entirely sure that some of it was just weather either; some of them looked a little like bullet holes.

She also couldn't help but notice a weapons rack along the wall. It was empty, more than likely a cautionary measure by their owners. Part of her didn't blame them. Space was a dangerous place, even she knew that. But knowing that there were weapons on board made her... uneasy.

Lights flickered on and off occasionally as she walked to the door connecting the cargo bay to the rest of the ship, and she wondered about the state of the vessel. It seemed somewhat run-down. Not quite dilapidated, but on the ropes and in need of a few cosmetic repairs. Vesta found herself curious about the crew. Were they long-space haulers, working for a human company to transport goods across the galaxy? It would explain why they favored function over appearance. But then why were they taking on passengers? The whole thing seemed odd to her. Maybe she was only lacking context.

The door to the next hallway was unlocked. She went through it, bare feet padding along the floor gently. The corridor was long and thin, barely wide enough to suit two people her size, reaching all the way out to the bow of the ship where she assumed the pilot was. But there was a door halfway through, and she took a good guess and assumed it was locked.

Along the wall were several doors, and she realized she didn't know which one to take. All she wanted was to find a crewman to ask if she could possibly get some food. But what if they refused, she wondered. They had been kind enough to help her on Omega. That didn't mean their generosity would continue.

_The human woman smiles. Her gray eyes narrow and her teeth are exposed. "I'll find a use for her."_

Vesta shivered. Well... better sooner than later, she supposed. She picked a door at random and opened it.

Five people looked up at her from around a table in the center of a rather run-down kitchen area; a batarian, drell and turian on one side, a human and salarian on the other. Three of them she recognized. The human captain, Athena. Atropo, the red drell. Junius, the turian. The other two, she hadn't met yet.

She and the group stared at each other for a moment in awkward silence before the salarian broke it with a loud slurp from a coffee cup.

"Sleeping beauty awakens!" the captain announced with a teasing laugh. She was loud, her voice filling the room.

"How are you feeling?" the turian asked.

"Good... A little sore, but good." Vesta paused before adding a little nervously, "Am I interrupting something? I can go."

"Nah. Just breakfast," replied the captain, gesturing to the small offering of food around the table. There was a variety, some bowls colored red and others blue. She realized quickly that Junius was eating out of the blue, and the rest out of the red; marked separately for dextro and levo foods.

"You hungry? Got a spare seat if you like."

Vesta began to protest, not wanting to intrude, but then considered it was maybe even more rude not to take the offered seat. They had taken her away from Omega and offered her a temporary place on the ship at their own expense. She had no money until she could get in touch with her family; nothing until they made landfall, other than what skills she had and even those were not much use aboard a starship. She wasn't in a place to refuse any further generous offers. So she nodded and sat down between Athena and the salarian, taking a piece of bread for herself.

"Crew, this is Vesta." Athena waved a hand to the drell woman rather dramatically, clearly enjoying her little presentation. _A ringleader_, mused Vesta as she picked at the bread. _This human is more like a showman than a captain_. "Vesta, crew. That there is our medic, miss Sula Meh'dayu."

The outstretched hand swept to the batarian woman, small and brown with the four black eyes that were a staple of her people. If Athena hadn't referred to her as female, Vesta never would have known; batarian females were nearly indistinguishable from males, with the differences generally being the sort that one only found when clothes were removed. But this was was indeed clothed, wearing the universal lab suit of a doctor, stressed from age and use. Sula didn't say a word or make any gesture of greeting, unless what looked like a hostile sneer with bared teeth was supposed to be welcoming, before turning her attention back to vigorously slicing up some fried meat.

"She's so friendly, it's hilarious. It's just something you'll get used to," said Athena sarcastically. "Junius you've met. He's the second in command or whatever on this ship, if you need anything from the high shelves, please ask him before you break something. Atropo's our pilot and local collector of shitty music, so sorry in advance for that."

Athena ignored the male drell's outcries of insult and pointed to the last person on the table. "And last but not least, our mechanic, Tyenki. If you see anything that looks like it might kill us all, please tell her about it."

The tall green salarian in the oil-stained work clothes and heavy gloves waved, offering Vesta a small smile. It seemed more out of polite habit than actual welcome though as she almost immediately returned to a small pile of circuits and wires piled beside her plate, eating with one hand while the other delicately sorted the metal mess out.

Vesta balked for a moment when she realized the salarian was a female as well. But where drell, batarian, and human women were all quite common place, salarian females were exceedingly rare and of immensely high status among their race, almost close to royalty.

Again, Vesta's sense of unease was piqued. This was not a usual crew at all.

"And me, the fairly awesome captain of your glorious starship," said Athena, placing her hands on her chest in what Vesta assumed was supposed to be some sort of dignified pose, though she wasn't sure it was quite pulled off. A group of chuckles went around the table, but the captain ignored them. "After you're done eating, you should have Junius give you a tour of the _Aegis_, find your way around to the bathroom and such. He-"

"You shouldn't let it see everything," noted a low voice.

Looking up from her bread, Vesta met Sula's eyes, all four of them, and none of them looked happy. "How do we know it won't get into something that it shouldn't?"

"Hence why Junius is doing the guide thing instead of letting her run around like a loose pyjak," retorted Athena. She was still smiling, but there was a new edge to it, as though she were biting back her words behind a friendly face. Vesta remained silent, watching the non-verbal cues as the two women stared each other down. "And she's staying for a while. Might as well know where she should and shouldn't go."

"How long is 'a while'?" asked Sula with a snap. "It has no skills, no money, no allies. It-"

"_It_ is a _she_, doctor, and she has a name," Athena interrupted. Her smile was gone.

All participants at the table had now paused in their eating, watching warily. Vesta was struck with the impression of them being members of an animal pack, waiting for the fight to end, to see who loses and wins, and especially trying to avoid getting caught in it.

Vesta hunched down into herself, feeling guilty because Sula was right. Her presence came at an expense, of course; water, food, and even air was in limited supply on a ship. The other passengers had contributed with goods and credits. All she had done was throw herself at their mercy. A deep fear rose up in her at the thought. When she had been running away, she had been ready for anyone else to take claim of her if it would get her away from the slimy batarian who had bought her from Cubozoa. But what thought had she given, in her panic, to who would find her?

Vesta cleared her throat. "Sula, I-"

The doctor banged her fist on the table, making everyone at it jump.

"She, he, it, whatever. I don't approve of you bringing a slave on board when we were lucky to find enough passengers to get fuel and supplies as it is!" Her breath came out in an angry hiss between needle-like teeth. "I need to buy new medical supplies! How am I supposed to do my job when your ass is riddled with holes and we have to feed a slave-"

"She is _not_ a slave!" growled Athena. The rest of the crew looked from her back to Sula again, not unlike participants watching the target at a claw ball match.

Sula snorted with a disapproving shake of her head. "Funny. You exchanged money for a being of lower class, the owner agreed to it, and said being is now inside your ship. In the Terminus systems' loose words for 'law', that seems to solidify your ownership to me. To let it run around the ship as if it were a free citizen is a farce and an insult. I think-"

"You'll think nothing."

Athena was now on her feet, glowering at her crew mate. Sula wisely shut her mouth but continued to glare up to the human as if daring her to say something. Indeed, everyone was silent and staring up to their captain; the human's tone was quiet and cold, but it still carried through the room with the gravity of authority.

"How much I care about your opinions on slavery could fit in my thumb, and you've known this since you joined, Meh'dayu. I said she's staying for now and I'll be the one to say when she goes. Griping about it won't change shit. Until then, you're going to treat her like any other customer until she's gone. Is that understood?"

The silence hung through the air, with every person holding their breath and waiting for either crew member to back down. But it was Sula who bent first; the doctor slammed her fist once on the metal table again, hard enough to make the plates and glasses shake, and shot Vesta a dirty scowl before storming out of the room. The door snapped shut behind her. It was an uneasy moment before Vesta was startled by Atropo's bark of a laugh as he clapped a hand on her shoulder.

"Damn, you're making a nice impression. I haven't seen her that pissed off since... well, since the last time _I_ pissed her off," he offered with an amused grin. She tried to return it, but her lips only achieved going up a little before returning into a worried frown; he didn't seem to notice or at least care as he went back to eating, tapping out a tune with his feet as he did. Tyenki rolled her eyes, her only comment on the matter, before returning her attention to her circuit boards.

Athena sat back down in her seat, taking a hefty bite out of a red fruit Vesta recognized to be an Earth apple. Her smile was gone now; all her attention was focused on staring at the wall with malice.

"Might as well give her that tour now, Jun, while Sula's holed up in med bay," she mumbled through her mouthful.

The turian nodded as he stood and motioned for Vesta to follow him. She had only just started to eat the offered food but she suddenly wasn't as hungry, so she followed him back into the hallway.

"I'm sorry," she said immediately, ducking her head shamefully. "I... I didn't mean to..." But she couldn't get the words out right, and instead bit her lip as she was escorted out.

Maybe this had been a mistake.

* * *

_Batarians_, grumbled Athena to herself as she continued to focus all her energy on trying to glare a hole through the walls and right into the med bay.

She and Sula got along well enough, they were on decent terms. Those terms running along the lines of 'when I get shot, you patch me up, and I'll pay you not to take out my liver while you do it'. But outside of that, she was nearly insufferable. She argued and griped and bitched... but she had also saved Athena's life, and the lives of the rest of the crew, enough that she was one of the few people that she trusted when she was unconscious. And she had to admit that the doctor was damn good at her work. But even that couldn't stop the occasional desire to give her a black eye or three. So instead of marching down to knock out her shiny teeth, Athena settled for fuming.

"Cap... I hate to poke at you, but she had a little bit of a point."

She glanced up to Atropo's voice from across the table with a withering glare. He quickly adjusted his tone to sound more apologetic, holding up his hands in the universal symbol of submission. "I'm just saying! How long do you plan on keeping her with us?"

With a sigh, she ran a hand through her loose hair. "Not sure yet. She hasn't even been on board a day, haven't had much time to think about it."

Opening his mouth to ask a question, the pilot was cut off by Tyenki mumbling, "I think a smarter question would be whether or not we plan to keep her."

"Don't look at me," said Athena defensively. "I wanted to free her, sure, but not take her with us. Junius is the one who said she should come on."

"You are the one who made the decision," said Tyenki, brandishing a screwdriver in her boss's direction, her large black eyes narrowing with annoyance. "You are the ship's captain. Ultimately, what happens to her is your choice."

"Thanks for the pep talk. Well, then, what's your official opinion as the ship's mechanic?" asked Athena, as if such a position would give new insight on anything other than whether or not the ship was going to explode in a few moments.

The salarian shrugged, completely neutral. "If she can prove her usefulness, I don't see why not. I have no qualms with her as long as she doesn't break or steal anything. But thus far, I haven't seen her do anything but sleep and offend Sula by continuing to exist."

Athena snorted at the joke, but took her words into serious consideration. The drell _had_ said she could do some chores, and something about record keeping. A glance over to a stack of dishes said everything that need said about their state of cleanliness on the ship. And their various IDs, passes, registration, licences... God, some of them were getting used as pillow padding right now. Organization was a skill that none of them practiced well. Maybe she could at least get a decent cleaning of the place before her surprise passenger got off.

"Okay, look. She's in a bad spot, and everyone knows what that's like. I did put my foot in it, so we'll see what we can do and that's if she can do some work in the meantime. And hey, maybe she's got rich and grateful relatives waiting back home."

She cast an eye to Atropo, whose head had immediately snapped up at the idea. Drell were not known to be greedy any more than the other sentient races, but there was always the exception. Atropo was the vain, materialistic exception.

"Down, boy."

Deflated, he cupped his chin in his hand and gruffed, "Lousy waste of food."

Ah. So he was going to bitch and moan the whole way, was he? He could be surly when he wanted to be, knowing that it had an effect on the captain that sometimes ended with her giving up whatever he was against simply to lessen his annoyance factor. Other times it ended with her fist in his back, but he was a risk-taker by nature. She'd have to pull out the big guns. "And if you keep whining about it, I'm going to tell Sula what you said last month. You remember, right? Last month at that bar, when we were looking for T'Joan?"

As Atropo's dark frills flared out with consternation, Athena pretended to think hard on the memory, rubbing her chin for extra emphasis. "What was it you said, after all those fruity drinks... something about how you wanted to know what the texture of her fuzz was like on her-"

"Okay! Okay!" cried the pilot in submission. Beside him, Tyenki just smirked silently to herself. "Gods, humans are a blight."

* * *

"I'm so sorry."

"Don't be," Junius reassured Vesta quietly for the fourth time as they walked slowly down the hall. He shrugged and lead her to the crossroads before stopping. "Sula is..."

The turian paused for thought. For the first time, Vesta noticed the slight wrinkles to the skin exposed along his neck, and how his pale plating was chipped and scarred in places. This was not a young turian... middle-aged perhaps. But what was most interesting was his lack of markings. Though she had not often left Kahje before now, even she knew that nearly all turians adhered to the rule of clan-related tattooing; bare-faced individuals carried a stigma of being untrustworthy. Younger turians sometimes refused to go through with the tradition, but she'd never yet met an older turian who did so.

Very curious.

Junius continued, walking again as he spoke. "She's not always that way. She has to make due when it comes to medical supplies sometimes, something she doesn't appreciate because it means she could lose a patient. She doesn't usually fight with Athena that way, but I think she has issues taking orders from someone so much younger than her. Under her callousness is a person, I promise."

"She doesn't even seem to consider me that," Vesta murmured. "She called me 'it' and wouldn't speak to me at all. I might as well not have been in the room."

"Batarians have a rigid social structure, though I know little of it. To her, even though we are non-batarians, my crewmates and I are all still free equals. I'm afraid that your situation on Omega has lowered you, in her eyes. Don't worry. But forget her for a moment. Tell me about yourself."

"Oh! Um." Her frills fluttered nervously. "I'm... I'm not very interesting."

Junius smiled patiently. "Well, how did you come to be on Omega? Drell are rare outside of Kahje, and now I fly with two."

"I..." Wringing her hands nervously, her voice fell to a whisper. "I'm an assistant to the Zoa family on Kahje. I worked with the head of it, Tharizoa."

"As part of the Compact?"

Vesta smiled, happy for some connection. It was nice not to be entirely lost. "You know about drell culture then?"

"Yes and no, enough to get by. But Kahje is a long way from Omega..."

"We were on Illium for a business trip. The Zoa family deals in a lot of trade in the Terminus system."

Junius tilted his head curiously. "Legitimate business?"

Affronted, Vesta huffed. "Of course! The Zoa family is very respected!"

"I... see. But Illium is still a long shot from the station where we found you."

"I... I know. I don't know exactly what happened. We were travelling to Illium, me and Tharizoa and..." The word caught in her throat, as if her own body didn't want her to speak the name. "And his brother."

Junius waited patiently, allowing her time to gather her courage.

"I'm only an assistant, I don't know all the details. But Tharizoa seemed... distressed. He said something had gone wrong with a supplier of eezo from Omega. This was important, of course; the main goal of the company is to act as a go-between between Citadel, Terminus, Skyllian, and Attican groups. We do the work converting currency, trade laws, all the paperwork basically. And the eezo is one of our major products. Cu... Tharizoa's brother said we should go to Omega personally to meet the supplier. I... I agreed. It seemed right."

"And then?"

"I woke up alone, in a cargo hold I didn't recognize. My head was aching, everything was blurry and odd."

Junius scowled. "It sounds as though you were drugged, or drunk."

"I've never had a drink!" Vesta felt herself shaking a little, and wrapped her arms around herself to try and quell it. "I was alone. But Cu... Cubozoa was there with batarians that I didn't recognize. There were more people everywhere, in cages and with large collars or bracelets around their legs or arms..."

The pause was palpable and made her ache.

"Slaves."

"Deceit is something I expect from batarians, but I admit, not hanar," said Junius.

"Most people wouldn't, but they're people, like anyone else. But... but Cubozoa..." She shook her head, forcing the bad memories away. "I don't understand."

"And the other, Tharizoa. Was he there?"

"No, and..." She glanced up at him. He was a stranger, but the turian had a peaceful feel to him. Maybe it was his age or large size, but he felt safe. "Is it weird that I'm worried but I'm glad he wasn't there?"

Junius shook his head. "You're worried for his safety. But you're glad you didn't see him consorting with slavers."

"Yes, exactly."

"Hopefully you'll find your answers when we reach Illium. It shouldn't be more than an hour or so."

He paused a moment to scratch thoughtfully along his jaw. His action drew her attention to a long thick scar along his neck, reaching from just under his jaw and down into the cowl of his chest. Vesta followed the line and edge of it, wondering just how he'd come by it.

"Sula won't hurt you. At worst she'll avoid you, but if you're injured or ill, go straight to her. She'll care for you regardless. The old girl can be harsh but she is not cruel. Mostly." He paused, watching her, and then chuckled. "It is an interesting scar, no?"

"Oh. I'm sorry!" Vesta pulled back; she hadn't realized how close she had leaned in to observe until he'd said something. "I'm sorry! I, uh, I do that sometimes. But I wasn't trying to be rude."

"It's all right, you meant no harm."

She relaxed a little. "It looks like it was painful..."

Turians were a notoriously hard race to judge by expression, but the slight movement of his mandibles and the lowering of his eyes made her think that she had struck a nerve. "It was."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have..." A stray thought made her pause, and she voiced it. "I'm just surprised to see a freight worker with a scar like that. Surely this isn't such a dangerous line of work?"

"Freight..." If she didn't know any better, she'd have placed his expression as flustered. "Come. Let's show you where the restrooms are."

A diversion. She narrowed her eyes in slight suspicion at his back as he turned and lead her further down the eastern side of the ship, showing her where the single co-ed restroom was along with the small bedrooms the crew had, one to each of them. He was chatting about the med-lab but she only half-heard it as she mulled over thoughts in her head.

_They were struggling to find people to transport. If they were a commercial ship, wouldn't they have tickets pre-bought? Or be on a roster of some sort? I didn't see them listed when Cubozoa and I docked at Omega. And he's so hesitant even after giving out so much personal information. Why? What do these people really_-

A voice calling over a loudspeaker from the ceiling interrupted her thoughts and it took her a moment to recognize it as the other drell aboard. "Hey, Junius!"

Glancing upward, her tour guide replied, "Yes?"

"Ditch the new girl and head on up to the cockpit. We got a burst coming in."

"Understood." To Vesta, he offered a sincerely apologetic smile. "Excuse me, please. I'm sure you know your way back to the cargo bay." Before she could respond, he was jogging down the hallway, leaving her alone with a single thought.

Who are these people? And what are they hiding?

Normally, Vesta frowned on spying on people. It simply wasn't polite. And she was a polite person. Really.

...But...

The doorways of the ships jutted out slightly from the walls, giving her ample hiding spaces to dart behind as he made his way into the center pathway and forward to the cockpit. She had experience in hiding; she had always liked sneaking and darting around her cousins when they were younger. Playing 'the hanar and the kelp eel' was a favorite game; she always chose to be the kelp eel, the little fish that had to hide away from whoever was playing the hanar hunter, and she had always won. Junius never even looked back as he entered the cockpit, leaving the door wide open.

Vesta felt a small moment of guilt for eavesdropping in on her hosts, but then reminded herself what her trust in Cubozoa had brought her, and the guilt disappeared. If she was in risk of something, she had a right to know. These people were hiding something, and she wanted to know what. She would not be caught off guard again. Crouching to the side of the door where she could hear, even if she couldn't see, she leaned against the metal and listened closely.

"You have a job for us?" Junius, calm as ever.

"Yep!" chimed in Athena's voice. Contrasting the turian's serenity, she sounded excited, energized even. Though she had no view of the cockpit, Vesta could just imagine the grin lighting up the human woman's face from ear to ear, toothy and brimming with confidence. "I knew Oktar would come through for us, didn't I tell you?"

"Despite all the times you called him a good-for-nothing penny-pinching waste of space?" piped up Atropo's voice with a derisive snort.

"Meh, maybe I was being a little harsh." There was a collective sigh from the crew that Athena quickly brushed off with, "He's being touchy about it. Wants to meet in person."

"He wants to make sure no one intercepts the burst," said Junius.

"Exactly."

"A bounty, maybe?"

Vesta's breath caught in her throat. Bounty? As in bounty hunters? What kind of ship was she on?

There was a brief pause from the captain, then, "I don't think so. Everyone in a legal sector gets access to posted bounties. If he wants someone, it's personal."

Atropo snorted. "Do volus hold grudges?"

"Only when people owe them money."

"Hmm. Think we can take that money off their hands before we return them?"

"Don't get your hopes up, frill face, we don't even know what's up. If it's not a bounty, could be some wet work."

Vesta scowled, confused, and wondered about the term. But she didn't have to wait long to learn its meaning.

"I don't remember when we became killers for hire," murmured Junius with a cautionary tone.

"We're not," Athena said firmly. There was a sound like a fist being smacked on a surface. "Not without a bonus anyway."

"Athena..."

He got no response. Instead, "Atropo, how long to Illium?"

"Less than an hour, Cap."

"Good. We'll drop off some passengers, meet up with Oktar. It'll be peachy."

"And our extra baggage?"

Silence filled the moment and Vesta wondered what expressions were crossing the captain's face. Hope to get rid of her? Disgust at a freeloader? Or maybe, as she hoped, at least the smallest spark of compassion?

"She goes," said Athena firmly. "We've taken her far enough. We're mercs, not saints. She doesn't belong here."

Junius began to speak with her but Vesta didn't stay long enough to hear it. She had heard enough. Pushing herself to her feet, she stormed away from the door with stinging eyes. Where she was going, she wasn't sure. More than anything, she wanted to finally give in to the urge to sob that had been following her since she had woken up in the cargo bay, with the person she had considered one of her closest friends deciding what price she was worth. But there was nowhere to do so. She had no room, no space, not even a corner to this ship that she could call her own to hide from her uncertain future in.

The captain was right, after all.

She didn't belong.


	3. Chapter 3

"What?"

All four of Skiriin's eyes blinked, betraying his nervousness. Then again, who wouldn't be when admitting that they'd failed to go through with an assigned job.

"She got away. Someone talked the buyer out of taking her, and gave him the money back."

The hanar bristled, the lights along his flanks bristling with a jagged mix of oranges and greens. Like all his species, his native 'tongue' was no tongue at all, but a complex series of bioluminescence that conveyed both emotion and meaning for speech. And that display was not a happy mix of colors, if Skiriin remembered correctly.

It was weird to think of a hanar as angry; they were usually so courteous and well-mannered. He'd seen one apologize to someone who had hit it with a skycar. Crazy, all of them, absolutely crazy. But this one... This one was different somehow. Sure he was still polite and never said a word out of line, but there was something darker under his words and actions that made Skiriin regret ever leaving the Blue Suns for this private gig.

"Who?"

"They said it was some freighter captain, a human woman. I managed to track down the ship, and it looks like they're in Arturo on Illium."

"Illium, you say? Hm. That is convenient. That may not be necessary." Reaching over to a console, Cubozoa spoke, "Contact Chief Kellara."

As the pair of them waited for it to connect, Skiriin ventured, "Who you calling, boss?"

"The police, naturally. This one wishes to report a homicide."

* * *

Illium was as different from Omega as the light was from the dark. Where Omega was carved from rock and shadows, Illium's cities floated along on waves of seafoam and air. On the surface, the colony gleamed like gems, just waiting to be plucked. Everything was sleek and new, from the buildings to the floors, down to the people themselves, who smiled wide and often. Asari were the predominant population, only adding to the sense of elegance and culture in the warm air. People dreamed of coming to Illium, whether to live or to retire, or simply for a little adventure. It was risky, they thought, but not as risky as Omega.

Athena knew it was only a mask though, covering up what was really underneath the surface. Omega and Illium were just the same nasty beast with different faces.

Oh yes, they smiled on Illium, true. But there was a sharp edge to the grins here, hungry and patient, that made her always think of predatory felines back on Earth that she'd seen from vids as a kid. The hunters of the colony weren't as upfront as the brute gangs of Omega, but that only made them all the more dangerous. At least when somebody tried to knife you on Omega, they were honest about it and usually did it to your face. On Illium, you could know somebody for years, meet their family, date their daughter, then wham. Right in the back.

And she'd seen what fueled the plaza's lovely lights - an army of 'indentured employees', as the polite term went. Instead of collars, they wore company logos printed onto their uniforms, all crisp and clean, but the effect was the same. It told everyone who saw that the wearer had years to go before they would be considered anything but company property again. Most of them had probably come here in hopes of riches and comfort; now they lived down in the dark parts of the cities, unseen and unheard until their masters called them up above.

If the skyscrapers were the face of the shining garden world, the slums where its lower classes lived in the suffocating fog down below was surely its rotting heart.

So, naturally, that was her destination.

Junius followed her down the _Aegis_' airlock ramp and towards the nearest cab dock, securing a pistol to his hip, just as she had. Oddly enough, weapons were often displayed on Illium than one would expect of a supposedly civilized colony. Laws against gun control were all but non-existent on Illium and even less so in the city of Arturo, their current stop, as a major weapons factory owned by Kassa Fabrication was a center of their production. But where the sight of an open gun on Omega often started more fights than not, here they were more a display of wealth and self-confidence than actual skill. It wasn't like they kept the pickpockets scared anyway.

"How many passengers left?" Athena asked, handing over an ID to the security officer, who scanned it and the one Junius handed over.

"Just the man heading for Eden Prime." Junius arched an eyebrow, smirking in that toothy turian way. "Shoes, Captain?"

"Well, you know what they say, human women are suckers for a nice pair of heels."

Junius sighed and shook his head as they took the IDs offered back by the officer who stood aside to let them pass. "Your soft heart will do you in, my friend."

"You're one to talk, mister 'let's take in the pretty drell girl' man."

"Only after you released her."

"Meh."

"And turned over the money."

"Details," she said flippantly, hailing a cab.

Junius chuckled. "So you think she's pretty, hm."

Athena's expression was a clean poker face as she stabbed a finger to the car that pulled up to the curb. "Shut your trap and get in. We've got a volus to find."

* * *

"Here."

Vesta turned away from the airlock door, her round eyes moving from Tyenki's down to her outstretched hand. Or, more precisely, the credit chit in it.

"What's this?" she asked warily.

Tyenki struggled not to roll her own eyes. "Money."

"No, I see that, but why?"

"It's enough to get you transport to the police office and maybe a night at a hotel, if it's cheap enough," said Tyenki, evading the question and pushing the chit into the drell's hands. "Take it."

Vesta blinked repeatedly, a drell habit of flusteration that Tyenki recognized from the ship's pilot, but eventually she took the chit and pocketed it. Good. Tyenki's opinion of her rose slightly; while too nervous and stiff for her own good, she wasn't an idiot who would favor social humility over being practical. "Thank you," said Vesta quietly. "Once I find out what has happened, I promise I'll pay you back."

"Before or after you find this Cubozoa and find out why he wanted you gone?" When Vesta opened her mouth, Tyenki held up a hand and interrupted with, "You really should watch your voice's volume when you're pouring your soul out to Junius. The walls on the ship are like paper."

Vesta giggled nervously. "That must make turbulence an adventure."

Tyenki blinked, unfazed by the attempted joke. "Do you know that in all species, there are ways to tell if someone is lying."

The drell's smile slowly slipped. "I'm... sorry?"

"Though it differs from species to species, there's a few universal things. How they hold their body. Where they look, if they have eyes. But most importantly, their voice. Their tone. Their pitch. If you pay attention, sometimes you can tell when they're withholding information. It's pretty interesting, if you learn about it." Ignoring Vesta's small cringe as she did so, Tyenki leaned in close so the two women were of level and eye to eye.

"What is it that you're not telling us?"

The silence between them was counted out in only a few seconds. Vesta was stiff and still as stone; her eyes alone fidgeted, giving away a mind racing for an acceptable answer. Her mouth opened hesitantly, and for a moment Tyenki thought she might actually answer her. She was hoping so. She was, after all, very curious.

"I-I need to go."

Vesta turned and fled. Within seconds, she had disappeared into the crowds.

Tyenki sighed with mixed relief. She was glad to see the last of her, despite her curiosity about her true words. The unexpected passenger had thrown an unexpected element into their daily life. And, like many mechanics, engineers, and really any professional whose livelihood depended on the stability and order of great giant machines, Tyenki did not like surprises whether they came in the form of an FTL drive collapse or damsels in distress.

"Hmph."

She turned to face the source of the disdainful sound; Atropo and Sula standing together in the doorway, the both of them wearing a peculiar look. Alien faces were always a challenge to pinpoint for expressions, but she would have gauged them as relieved yet annoyed. Contradictory. But then, in her view, people were often like that. And few more so than these two.

"If you're here to say your tearful farewells," she offered sympathetically, "you missed her."

Atropo's snort was hard enough to make the frills along his neck ruffle. "Yeah, right. We're better off without her sort."

"Isn't her sort also _your_ sort?" questioned Sula with a tone of disbelief. She hadn't been on the ship long, only about half a standard year, and had never seen Atropo's reactions to others of his species. Tyenki was all too familiar with him though.

"He means drell from Kahje," she explained, "as opposed to drell from Rakhana, such as himself."

Sula's two left eyebrows went up in a universal expression of confusion. "I didn't know there was a difference."

"Only the sort Atropo creates for himself."

The drell in question flung up his hands. "Sure, ladies, talk about me like I'm not here. I'll even help, watch." Turning round on his heel, he disappeared back into the belly of the ship. His crewmates watched him go, waiting until his footfalls could no longer be heard before looking back to one another.

"What a little shit," said Sula bluntly.

"He's attracted to you," replied Tyenki, equally blunt.

For the first time since they'd met, Sula laughed... though Tyenki would classify it more as a sound of confirmation than any real amusement. "I know. But the boy's attracted to anything with a pulse."

"Hm. True."

"He is right, though."

"About what?"

"It's better that the slave is gone."

* * *

Athena glanced at her omnitool. It was early into the evening; the sun would be setting right about now. She would have to believe the clock though. There was no way to tell from down here.

She was in the underbelly of the city where its lesser classes quietly went about their private lives away from the stare of employers and customers. Mostly asari but also a decent amount of humans, batarians, salarians, and a handful of other races all walked about, their heads down and hands kept to themselves. Rows and rows of homes leaned against each other, looking about as tired and haggard as the people who lived inside them. More solid were the large, city block-sized pillars that supported the platforms overhead which in turn supported the shining skyscrapers and plazas that Illium was famed for. As such, no real like penetrated these levels, leaving them largely dependent on street signs, strings of bulbs strung up between houses, and whatever other sources could be found and hooked up. But the citizens learned to largely get by without the light in public, and one could walk for blocks with barely any illumination.

Combined with the planet's intense humidity, the lower neighborhoods were wrapped up in a suffocating, wet darkness.

"Creds for someone in need?" mewled an old salarian sitting cross-legged on a sidewalk corner, waving an open palm to each passerbyer with no results. He held it out to Athena and Junius, but the human passed by without a pause in her step.

Junius gave her a look.

"We're late,' she said, keeping her eyes ahead. "No time."

He made an unsatisfied noise, but didn't press the issue and stayed at her side. The pair walked through the throng of beleaguered citizens towards their destination - a nondescript apartment building. All windows down here were shut to try and minimize the humidity while in a home, but the few that this building had were not only shut but deeply shadowed, most likely covered with some sort of filtering device that didn't allow passerby to look inside. Most people who passed by probably either didn't notice or figured it was simply overly private occupants at work. Which was true, to an extent. There were people inside, and they were very secretive, but not for the reasons their neighbors thought they were.

She felt a prick of anxiety; no freelancer liked going into strange places with no idea of who or what was waiting inside. But Oktar had invited her, and last she knew they didn't share any outstanding grudges or debts. There was little reason to expect deceit.

Well, for now anyway.

Taking her hands out of her pocket, she let one sit by her pistol for a bit of security and rang the door chime with the other. An eye-slot in the door opened up, with a pair of human eyes appearing in the small space.

"Name?"

"Athena. Your boss is expecting me."

The man on the other side of the door paused. "Like the goddess?"

Athena sighed inwardly. Of all the flunkies she got, she got the mythology expert.

"No, like Blasto's arch-nemesis- yes, the goddess, let me in."

The slot clattered shut for a moment before the door slid aside to give them access. She and Junius walked inside, with the door locking again behind them. There was only one room, much warmer and drier than outside thanks to a cooling system that most folks outside would have murdered over. Though the outside of the building suggested a home, the inside made it clear that this was a place of work; consoles lined the walls with small desks facing them, all perfectly neat and lined up. In the center of the room was a long curved desk covered with a variety of monitors and hard copy pads. Videos of all sorts played on every one of the screens; they ranged from official newscasts, gossip vid shows, security footage, and more.

Athena had once been impressed by the setup, but that had been quite a few years ago. She was used to how information brokers worked by now.

A handful of people sat at the smaller desks, eyes fixed on the monitors as their hands furiously typed. What they were typing was anyone's guess, but Athena's eyes were more focused on someone else in the room.

Standing in front of the center desk was a krogan. 'Large' was not quite a strong enough word for him, but 'imposing' definitely fit. And unlike the rest of the room's occupants, he was wearing armor; scratched and dented, it spoke volumes of just how much violence that its wearer had survived. His skin was a mix of bright greens and dull browns, with his crest equally bit as marred as his armor, and his piggy yellow eyes fixated on the pistol at Athena's hip.

But, then, her eyes were rather fixated on the shotgun on his, so fair's fair.

"Business?" he rumbled.

"Oktar sent a burst asking for us."

"Why?"

Athena scowled and crossed her arms defiantly. "Did he tell you?"

"No."

"Then explain why should I tell you if your boss didn't."

All the typing in the room slowly came to a standstill as the workers paused to watch. A few glanced to make sure the emergency exit was still where it should be. Athena and the krogan kept their stares at each other though, grey eyes to yellow eyes.

She felt Junius tense next to her as the guard flexed his fingers rather closely to where his shotgun was attached. Her own pistol was only an inch away from her palm, but that wouldn't mean shit if the krogan grabbed his gun seconds before she did, and she could tell he wasn't the type to be slow. He hadn't earned those scars any other way. But she had brought Junius for a reason, and she would have to bet that his own abilities along with hers would give them the edge in a fight.

"Oh come on now, everyone, calm down."

All eyes turned towards the speaker: a volus, ambling towards them. Unlike the rest of the people in the room, he didn't seem to show any fear of approaching a trio of mercs with their fingers twitching for the trigger. Rather, he walked right up to the chair behind the desk and hopped in, raising its height so he was of face level for them all.

"Crude as the Earth-clan woman speaks," said the volus, his words punctuated every so often by his systemic breathing and a pause as the suit filtered the alien air into something his body could use, "she's right. Stand aside."

The krogan's lip curled but his firing hand dropped and he moved out of their way to merely stand beside the desk. Athena allowed herself a moment of smirking victory before stepping up to the spot where he'd stood.

"Apologies, Captain," offered Oktar with a lazy hand wave. "Krark can be overprotective."

"Is that just how he is, or is it written in his contract right next to the dental benefits?" she asked in reply.

The volus chuckled and waved a hands to the seats facing him. "Funny that you ask about contracts. Please, sit down." Once both of them were, seated, he closed down his array of monitors, leaving on only one. The image on the screen switched from a bird's-eye view of a nearby market to a display of a planet. Green and blue with clean skies and a lot of farmland, it looked gorgeous, peaceful. It also looked rather familiar.

"That's Eden Prime, isn't it," asked Junius, echoing her suspicions. "The human colony that was just attacked by terrorists."

"More than terrorists," said Oktar. "Geth."

Athena scoffed loudly. "Did you call me down here to just make shit up?"

"I'm inclined to agree," added Junius. "The geth haven't been seen outside their territory for-"

"For approximately two hundred and eighty eight years, give or take, yes, yes I know." Another few stabs of a finger into the console, and a video was brought up. The three of them watched sketchy clips compiled from security footage, all of it displaying an attack on the colony. Geth troopers shooting down what looked like scientists and Alliance personnel, with the latter taking far more hits than the former. Civilians ran and ducked for cover, their hands over their eyes or ears as though they believed that if they couldn't hear what was happening, it would just go away. But, as it usually did, reality proved to be different than their hopes.

Athena was all too familiar with violence, and she would be the first to say she had killed her fair share of people. Most of them were bad. But that didn't stop her from feeling somewhat squeamish as she watched the geth shoot unarmed civvies in the back... and they weren't picky about their targets. She finally had enough as the video changed to a desperate man trying to get into a locked room with a small toddler in his arms that Athena presumed was his daughter, only to be flanked by a pair of the machines. Their guns aimed high and-

"I've seen enough," she said, waving a hand as if that would dismiss the images from her mind as well as her view.

Nodding, Oktar paused the screen. Athena did her best not to look at it.

"Why would they attack a human colony?" asked Junius; he sounded about as unsettled as she was. "The geth and humans have no history, bad or good."

"That's the mystery everyone's trying to ask. Not many reporting channels will believe it's the geth yet, but the truth will find its way to them. People will be asking questions, and we will be finding answers."

"So what you're saying is that you don't know. Isn't it the Shadow Broker's business to know everything?" asked Athena curiously. "I'm surprised he didn't know about everything about this down to what those marines ate for breakfast the day before."

"No, but we do know a lot about you, captain. A crew of unattached mercenaries, with no gang affiliation or political ties. Freelancers. Diverse, meaning you have no racial grudges or loyalty to your people. A track record of uneventful, reliable work. And your ship is one of a kind. Passed down to you from its former owner, no?"

Athena's eyes narrowed, but she didn't bother denying it, confirming the fact with a nod.

"The _Aegis _was formerly a merchant-class ship. But it was upgraded over time and added onto to suit your predecessor's needs, yes. It lacks in firepower, true, but it is remarkably fast. Quite fast. And, of special interest to me and my people, easy to disguise as just another freighter. Very useful, very useful."

"What does my ship have to do with this?"

"Hm. There's a saying among my people, Earth-clan. 'Admitting one is lacking in finances is the first step to gaining finances.' I believe the same also applies to knowledge."

Athena's mouth twitched. She was asking a lot of questions but not getting many answers. Not fun. "And where do we fit in?"

Turning off all the monitors - including, thankfully, the frozen image of the unlucky humans and their synthetic killers - Oktar swiveled in his chair to face them directly. "The job is simple. Go to Eden Prime. Pick up a package. Bring it to me."

* * *

"_Thank you for riding Arturo public transport, sponsored by Noghri Financial! Your money is our business! Now with five hundred new offices available..."_

The commercial on the overhead screen continued on in an oppressively chipper, upbeat voice droned down onto the skybus full of civilians. All the seats were full, pressing passengers together shoulder to shoulder, much to everyone's shared discomfort. A few conversations carried on between those that knew each other, discussing weather and work and oh did you hear what Lady Sweat did yesterday what a scandal.

Vesta did her best to block out the sounds, closing her eyes tight to focus on her own thoughts. She had to have a plan. If there was thing she was good at, it was planning. So...

Go to the police.

Explain what happened.

Find Tharizoa.

...Right.

She sighed and rested her face in her hands. Yes, explain that she had woken up on Omega with no idea of where her employer was, why his brother had wanted her worse than dead, and with little to no way to prove any of it. All she had were her memories, and nobody was going to go off of her word alone. But what other options did she have?

_Fists clenched in anger, her voice loud and harsh. "__I said she's staying for now and I'll be the one to say when she goes." Her gray eyes bright and shining, like sharpened steel._

No. Vesta pushed the thought away. The same woman who had saved her had also wanted her gone. The captain had said it herself. Not saints. Just mercenaries. She had only been a minor inconvenience to them.

For the first time, Vesta felt truly alone. It was an odd feeling for her. While she had been an only child, and her parents had died some years ago, they had long had ties with the much larger hanar family, their employers the Zoa. Theirs wasn't simply a matter of employer and employee, but something closer; she had always known she would have support from them, even if she had chosen not to work for them. She had followed Tharizoa day after day, year after year, as his assistant and friend. The months had flown by as just part of her life, but now she realized that this was the first time she had been alone, truly alone, for years.

It was... an odd feeling.

But that was okay. She was doing what any smart, capable adult would do - go to the officials. It was the sensible thing to do. Relaxing a little, she reminded herself that it would be okay. If she could escape Omega, she could survive talking to the police.

"_Next stop, district police department. Please be ready to report all weapons, body armor, intoxicating substances, and biotic amplifiers at the door! Do your part to keep Illium's upper levels safe!"_

Vesta got to her feet to get off, feeling newly confidant. But the feeling didn't last long as the message continued, the speaker's voice changing from the usual cheerful tone of an advertiser to something more serious.

"_News Alert. Please be on the lookout for a suspicious drell reported to have landed in Arturo today."_

Eyes wide, Vesta jerked her head up to look at the monitor, a gesture copied by many other bus passengers. But where the rest of them were passing time until their stop or simply looking for a conversation starter, she was staring at the screen in horror.

Her face. Her face was on the news.

"_A CEO visiting from Kahje, a hanar by the face name of Tharizoa, was found dead in his room at the Blue Skies hotel in Illium; police reports say that his accounts have been drained, and foul play is suspected."_

Her blood ran cold and her mouth fell open, mouthing the words. No. It couldn't be.

"_The police have put out a warrant for the arrest of his drell assistant."_

It couldn't be.

"_Please notify the authorities if you have any news regarding this potentially dangerous suspect. Have a nice day!"_


	4. Chapter 4

Damn mercenaries.

Oktar watched the human and turian go for as long as the security cameras could follow before turning his attention to other matters. His employer would want to know that the captain had been hired, as planned. Unsatisfied, he pulled up their files and glanced over the files he had collected before the _Aegis_ had ever made dock.

_Captain, 'Athena'. Human, female. No surname, given name also false; title refers to goddess in an ancient human beliefs, name rarely practiced outside religious sects. Age unknown. Birth place unknown, believed to originate from Terminus systems. Apprenticed to seasoned bounty hunter, turian by the name of 'Neno', having taken over ship since mentor's retirement. Have worked with her before; reliable but not to be underestimated. Responsible for transport during the O'Hara project. Not the average idiot with a gun._

_First mate, Junius Marku. Turian, male. Age, fifty-two. Birth place, New Cipritine, Taetrus. Known biotic, very well trained. Discharged from turian military circa 2163 for undocumented reasons, possibly criminal behavior given lack of communication or travel to turian territory since. Files regarding military history appear to have been destroyed entirely._

_Pilot, Atropo Drac. Drell, male. Age unknown. Birth place, Rakhana. Documents lacking due to little to no presence of up to date technology on home planet. However, a drell of matching description has been banned entry from forty two casinos, ten pleasure houses, and one Enkindler shrine across the galaxy; unsurprisingly, appears to be in debt to several people._

_Engineer, Mannovai Lundo Destahki Tuul Mekko Tyenki. Salarian, female. Age, 11. Birth place, Qunssar, Mannovai. Gender notable; females off of homeworld unusual. Reasons for leaving not yet known, presumably a criminal record. Possibly related to there being no 'Tyenki' listed in Mannovai clan records after 2179._

_Medic, Sula Meh'Dayu. Batarian, female. Age, unknown. Birth place, unknown. Believed to have former connections to Blue Suns but unconfirmed. Information to be added as it is recorded._

Hm. Not an impressive bunch.

It did not make him feel any better about them being the ones to go pick up whatever it was the Broker wanted so bad. Better it be one of their own than some pack of lowlife thugs whose only positive traits were that they weren't drug addicts and that they probably weren't stupid enough to try and cheat their employer. They couldn't fathom how valuable their package was in any case. As far as their uneducated little brains knew, they could be hauling anything from stolen weapons to drugs to a crate full of purple pyjaks.

Truth be told, Oktar didn't know what it was himself. Nor did the agent who had sent him the information. The truth was on a need to know basis apparently, and he was not among those privy to it. Oktar didn't usually mind this, but the mystery surrounding the geth and their seemingly unprompted attack on a human colony was already intriguing, and the embargo on learning more was only making him even more curious.

Still. A thought for a later time.

What he had to focus on now was ensuring that the package arrived at all. Despite his doubts about the group having a collective IQ of more than ten, he had been in this business long enough to know to be careful. He would have to keep an eye on them.. And there was only one way to do that without hacking into every single security camera and terminal from here to Eden Prime. And she was due any-

"When do I start?"

Oktar looked up.

An asari stood at the edge of his desk.

Though they had met before, she always caught his attention, the way prey might notice a predator from the corner of their eye. Many asari were considered universally lovely, sure, but there was something different about this one. Her features were sharp and firm, like they would give you bruises if you got too close. The armor she seemed to always wear was uniform dark gray, a stark contrast to the icy blue hue of her skin, but otherwise rather plain; unlike most other mercs for hire, she did not want to stand out from the crowd, something that helped add to her successful track record. Her pose was one of liquid confidence, a woman who had come to know her body decades before Oktar had been born.

He had long since stopped being overwhelmed by Pozedia's presence, daunting as it was. But he still couldn't stop himself from glancing at her pale eyes. Or, rather, eye.

A cybernetic eyepatch filled the empty hollow where her left eye had been. Small scars along the edge were the other evidence of what must have been a painful wound from years ago. But the patch was more than just decoration; it served a very real purpose. Hovering in the center of the socket, a round blue interface swirled and moved constantly, with asari numbers and letters occasionally scrawling alongs its rings, too small for him to read. Even now it fixated on him, staring and unblinking. He wondered if she was using her false eye to monitor his heartbeat, reading him in ways that he couldn't see, much less control.

Oh yes. She was handsome, impressively so, but there were reasons he avoided speaking to her in-person if he could help it.

Answering her, he said, "Immediately."

"You're that worried that she'll cheat you?"

"Hm. Maybe. You can never tell with this sort."

Pozeida's mouth twitched. "She could. But not for what you think."

"Hm?"

"She's not as easily swayed by cash or drugs, otherwise she'd be another gang flunkie by now. So you don't have to worry quite as much about someone else buying her out."

"Well... I suppose that is a relief-"

"I didn't say I was finished." The volus stared as she continued with, "She's a mercenary, and all mercs are greedy at heart. We don't do what we do out of love for community, you know. So even if she doesn't get charmed with a full bank account, that doesn't necessarily mean she doesn't have other ways of being bought."

"And that's why you're here."

Pozeida smiled almost kindly. "That's why I'm here."

* * *

Vesta's breaths came in short, ragged gasps. Her eyes darted from face to face, searching for any clue that she'd been recognized. All her impulses were telling her to run as fast as she could, but common sense told her that it was foolish. She had to be calm. She had to focus.

Getting off the monorail without attracting attention had been a terrifying experience, but so far no one had tried to stop her. There had been no sort of dramatic 'there she is!' moments like she kept imagining in her mind. But it was a safe bet that she wouldn't remain anonymous for long; even on a world as populated as Illium, a lone drell was a rarity, and coloring and markings made her all the easier to identify. It was like running around with a giant target for a face..

The air began to darken as she followed the crowds out of the plaza, colored orange and purple by the sunset, into the alleyway that lead down into the cooler and darker parts of the city. Most of the people around her seemed to be leaving work for the day, relaxed and ready to have fun. Vesta felt anything but.

One thing for sure, she couldn't get to the police. If they wanted her arrested publicly, they must have some sort of proof, or at least what they thought was proof. Vesta was no science buff and never had been, but she wouldn't put it past Cubozoa to know how to conjure it up. He had always been so smart...

She couldn't go to her the other Zoa family members either, or her own for that matter. Her parents were long dead of age or disease, and she was an only child. All she had were the family she had pledged her Compact to. But of all of them she only knew a handful of them well and now...

And now... one of them was dead.

A sudden bevy of bright lights and sounds invaded her focus and she looked up from her feet to look. Without meaning to, she had been pulled along by the crowd into a strip of businesses far less pristine and professional than what usually appeared on the surface. There was no pretense of looking professional or rich down here, it seemed. Everyone was more intent on spending their hard-earned credits on quick food, good beer, and a seat at the numerous open bars to watch the multiple screens that spilled out news and sports and more.

Pulling away from the throng to stand in a secluded corner, Vesta chewed on her lip to keep her emotions reined in, in case anyone was watching and found her suspicious. There would be time to grieve for Tharizoa later. But without him, she felt lost. The police and her employers were, at least now, against her. Panic threatened to overcome her as she realized that she didn't have any options. If Cubozoa really was out to get her, for whatever slight she'd done against him, then she knew him well enough to know that he would be relentless.

Maybe the reason she couldn't think of where to go was because she had nowhere to go at all.

But like a gift from the Enkindlers, a voice of salvation caught her ears.

"Bartender! Hey! Another one here!"

* * *

"_Information is still being gathered here on ground zero, Haasim, but it's looking to get even tougher to learn more as the combined Alliance and Council security teams have shut down the area..."_

Athena watched the screen above the bar with mild interest and a drink in her hand. It was the only TV covering the colony; the others around it were discussing local politics, the new season of _Blasto Unleashed_, what new misdemeanor the mayor's daughter had added to her collection, the predicted weather for tomorrow... A human colony wasn't very interesting with with the increasingly known fact that the geth were involved.

Even Athena was struggling to keep herself interested, and she felt a small bit of nagging guilt because of it. She was a born and raised spacer kid, having graduated out of Omega's school of bruises, and she had rarely visited any human-owned planets or stations. Earth, often cited as her homeworld, was more alien to her than any actual alien worlds she'd known. But her parents had come from there, and had been colonists before merc money had tempted them to far off places. If they'd decided to stay... hell, maybe that would've been her smoking ruin of a home on the news.

But in this life, it was just one of a million far off places.

"What a pity," said Junius to her right, sipping at water. "So many people dead."

"That's the risk they took," Athena pointed out. "The Alliance wants to play with the big kids, and sometimes that means getting your nose bloody."

He fixed his beady little bird eyes on her. "Have I ever told you that you are awfully harsh on your people."

"Have I ever told you how annoying it is when you call them 'my people'?"

"Often."

"There's your answer. Human colonies get messed up left and right all the time. You ever hear about Mindoir? Batarians razed the place to the ground, killed or rounded up just about everyone, right down to the kids. I remember the news covering it for about a day. Maybe two. That's it."

She paused to take a drink of her beer before continuing. "This isn't anything new except now it's robots instead of slavers. But they'll forget about it once the week's out."

"Don't be so sure." Junius gestured with his free hand to the news, now discussing the funds being set up for the survivors. "The Council is interested. Something caused the geth to attack, and they want to know why."

Athena snorted. "So they can cover their scaley asses if the flashlights are coming to turn us into paste."

He sighed and shook his head hopelessly. "So cynical."

"So realistic." She held up her empty glass and gave it a wave. "Bartender! Hey! Another one here!"

_"They are coming!"_

Both turian and human looked up to the news feed where it was focused on the face of a haggard man's distraught face. The camera was jerking and shaking, like there was a struggle going on behind it, as the man continued to shout.

_"The machines are coming! No escape! Not mad!"_ Someone's hands were on his shoulders, trying to jerk him away, but his frantic words only got louder. _"I see the future, and the future is the end! The cycle is beginning again! Prepare!_" And then finally he was dragged away, with an apologetic reporter replacing him.

Junius, Athena, and the barkeep all stared for a long beat until the captain broke it up with a curt laugh. "Oh yeah, this job's gonna be great, I can already tell. Let's go. Crazy people put me off my beer." She stood up and reached for her credit chit only to realize it was in her other pants. Fabulous. "Junius, can you pay the tab? I'll pay you back..."

Something caught her eye.

"After..."

A face in the crowd. Asari, like most of the ones around her. But this one was staring right back at her with an unblinking, cold stare.

And a grin.


	5. Chapter 5

The light was thick and warm on her skin, with the orange-purple hues of the setting sun pouring in through the windows. The busy hive of the surrounding dock made the inside of the ship's cockpit feel rather calm in contrast.

"Ha!"

Despite its occupants.

Atropo threw his cards down hard onto the dashboard and pumped a fist into the air in triumph, grinning like a man with a lottery ticket. "Suck on those eggs."

Tyenki's head slowly looked up from her own hand, one eyebrow cocked upwards. "What?"

"It's a human saying. Athena says it."

"And you have no idea what it means, do you."

A moment of frustrated pause answered her question much faster than any actual words. Not that he actually admitted to it. "I still win this hand."

She sighed and tossed over a few small, colored triangles from her side of the dashboard to his where he greedily added them to his pile. Her mind was not quite on the game though, but rather still stuck on the memory of the drell woman tearing off into the crowds. What was she running from, Tyenki wondered, her or herself. So interesting.

"Hey, you two." Both card-players glanced up as Sula stuck her head in through the narrow door. "Where's the captain?"

"Still talking to our employer, probably," offered Tyenki. "Or incapacitating herself with drink."

"Who says it can't be both," Atropo laughed, tossing down a card to start the next match. "Circle nine, your call."

"Square ten, I win," she countered immediately, laying down the opposing cards. To Sula, she said calmly, "She will be back soon, I assume. Junius is with her after all."

Atropo squawked and choked. "You..."

Sula seemed to relax somewhat, but not by much. "Good point. Maybe that way I can actually leave Illium without having to sew her flesh back on while we leave."

Tyenki nodded in agreement. The captain was not the most careful of people in any given situation; though she wouldn't call her reckless, she certainly had a talent for getting herself into the sort of trouble that got her shot out. It was practically a hobby. But that was why Junius was the first mate after all. Besides his years of having been onboard compared to the relative few of the rest of the crew, he balanced out her brash personality fairly well, and had a talent for keeping her in check.

While Atropo stared at the sudden blow and coming to terms with just how much money he now owed the salarian, she glanced over to the monitor next to her elbow. The display was set to colonial news, ranging from the economy to recent dramas. One in particular had caught her eye. They were interviewing a hotel maid who had found the body of a hanar in his room; apparently it was quite the important case, with the victim being a fairly rich person. Someone by the name of Tharizoa.

Tyenki's eyes narrowed with interest.

Atropo's voice rose to a shrill tone of disgust. "You can't have! I had a perfect set! Unless..."

"What an interesting name," Sula murmured, staring at the screen as well. "Sounds familiar, doesn't it."

"Mmhm."

"You fucking cheater!" shouted Atropo indignantly.

But all their words fell silent the second a rather familiar face suddenly appeared on the screen, just above a damning phrase that crooks like them knew just as well.

_Wanted For Murder._

* * *

Athena didn't think. No time. Not one iota of time. Without hesitation, she turned and grabbed Junius roughly by the wrist. Her knuckles paled from the force of the grip. In the middle of paying the tab, he glanced up from his credit chit with a confused expression, his eyes drifting from her hand to her blanched face. "What is it?"

"Pozeida." Her voice was above a whisper, barely audible over the surrounding crowds. "I just saw her."

He scoffed. "You're tipsy."

"Behind me."

He glanced over his shoulder and, in seconds, drew a sharp hiss of breath. "She's dead."

"Leaving."

"Captain, you told me she was dead."

"Leaving. Leaving now." Even before the words were out, Athena was striding away from the bar, with Junius on her heels. The bartender's outraged shouts over the unpaid drinks followed them along with more than a few stares, but she wasn't concerned. All she could think about was the sight of the bright blue eye staring back at hers, one eye that had appeared again and again in dreams both good and bad. The eyepatch was new, all cold and clean tech, but that smile was all too familiar. Sharp and feral as a beast. Yeah, she remembered that smile too well.

Athena walked faster.

She was aware of the world around her, but only vaguely. She could hear Junius too, at her side and demanding answers, but all she wanted to do was walk away. Or run, rather, but the crowds along the paths down here were too thick for that. Elbows and feet and shoulders blocked her escape. Every time she thought she'd found a pocket to get away from the masses, it was filled up by someone else. The air felt too thin, it was the heat, it was so fucking hot. Junius' voice was growing louder, questioning and concerned. She opened her mouth to tell him to shut up.

Someone grabbed her elbow, and her reaction was immediate. Spinning on her heel, hand moving down to her gun, she faced her fear and shouted.

"_What the hell do you want?!_"

The crowds came to a halt, all of them staring at the human, who in turn stared at the one who had grabbed her. No tall, smooth asari with a tempting smile and mechanical eye, but a small plain drell with a round, shocked face. Athena and Vesta stared at each other, both open-mouthed in confused silence. With nothing else exciting to watch, the crowd returned to its pace and ignored them once more.

Vesta blinked first. "H-hello?"

Athena didn't realize she was staring blankly until she felt Junius shake her shoulder. Softly, but firmly, he said, "Captain. If we're going to leave, we should go now."

"Right. Right..." Releasing the drell, Athena started to walk off again, with not only Junius on her heels but now the drell as well, keeping up her attempts to get her attention.

"Wait! I need to talk to you! It's important, please."

"Talk and walk, can you do both?"

"I-"

"Stop!"

The three of them turned as one with the rest of the crowd. Like a wave, the people behind them parted for a pair of asari police officers. The barkeep stood behind their wake, smiling smugly. The cops, however, did not looked pleased in the least bit.

At her elbow, Athena heard Vesta gasp; there was a faint but distracting bit of discomfort before she realized it was Vesta's fingers digging hard into her forearm. "Please," she whispered breathlessly, "Please listen to me!"

"Later." Pulling her arm out of Vesta's grip, Athena yanked her pistol out of its holster on her hip.

The crowd reacted instantly. Violence, though not as widespread as the rest of the Terminus System, was still a presence here and Illium's citizens knew enough to get out of the way of a fight when they saw one coming. Nearly everyone around her ducked, ran, or otherwise shielded themselves from what they thought would be a wild shot aimed to them. Screams and shouts of warning rang out, and it wasn't soon before there was a full scale exodus from the marketplace. With a sour note of pleasure, Athena noticed the barkeep was among them.

The police reacted as well but with the exact opposite response of the crowd's panic; just as quickly they pulled their own pistols and aimed them to the trio. They looked mad as hell and, if Athena knew cops at all, they had a trigger finger just waiting to pull the second she fired at them.

So she aimed up high instead to the large neon sign above them all and shot at it instead.

Sparks exploded as the sign shattered instantly, glass and plastic flying everywhere, filling the air above them with glints of bright light. Vesta let out a shout of fear and covered her head. Athena didn't even bother. She knew it wasn't needed.

Junius was, like all turians, military trained and had a soldier's reaction speed. And, perhaps even better, he had learned to predict his captain's horrible tactics. The bullet had barely left her pistol before he hunkered down into a defensive stance with one hand extended up into the air. A biotic shield appeared at a point just above his palm and extended down to the ground in a matter of seconds, enclosing them in the shimmering dome of dark energy and humming busily. The debris bounced off of it harmlessly, just as Athena had planned.

Well, hoped, anyway.

The cops were not quite so lucky. Though they had biotics of their own, Athena had caught them off guard enough that they didn't react nearly as quickly. One swore loudly as sparks and glass shards caught her in the face; clamping her hands to her eyes, she fell into a heap, her pistol falling harmlessly to the ground. Her partner, infuriated and doing her own best to avoid the debris, fired aimlessly at them. Bullets hit the ground and walls around them, or landing hard ripples onto Junius biotic barrier. But Athena knew it would only be a matter of seconds for them to escape while one was disabled and the other was distracted.

"Time to go!" she shouted, pushing Vesta into Junius' chest. He said nothing as he dropped his shield and scooped up their extra passenger, but she had no doubt in her mind that he was glaring right at her back as they turned and fled. But no time to think about an old turian's negative thoughts. She was all too concerned about the angry cops behind them.

...And even more concerned about the asari that she had lost track of.

* * *

Far off in a dingy back street, high up on a fire escape, Pozeida watched the entire scene with a small smile of pleasure.

So Athena hadn't lost her touch. If anything, she seemed even more impulsive, rash, and willing to break the rules for her own advantage than ever. It was so like her, it was simultaneously comforting and depressing to the bounty hunter. A little bit of a turn on, really.

However, she was to be grateful for the drell for providing enough of a distraction for Pozeida to slip out of her prey's sight, but now she was slightly concerned as she watched the trio run off. Her eyepatch zoomed in, catching it as if through the eye of a sniper's scope, almost close enough to see their panicked faces. Cute. Eventually they took a sudden turn, ducking into one of the city's many maze-like pathways, and poof. Gone. It wasn't a difficult guess to assume they were heading for the docks, where the _Aegis_ was probably docked. It wouldn't be the first time Athena had cut and run from a dock in the Terminus System to wait out whatever crime she had committed.

Pozeida had seen some of those escapes quite personally, after all.

Her smiled withered a bit. The drell, though... The drell was a new factor. They hadn't been listed in the crew roster, whether by fake ID or the true records collected by Oktar. And they had run right up to Athena with a look of distracted fear, but not fear of the mercenaries or the police that followed. No. Something else.

The way they had touched the human, _her_ human, had made her skin prickle.

The omnitool on her wrist cast a soft orange glow in the dark shadows of the alley as she connected to the extranet. Tapping into its keyboard, she sent a message back to Oktar, with video of the entire scene attached.

_Give me everything you have about the drell in the video. Leaving soon._

* * *

Junius followed his captain, barely keeping pace with her with effort as she led him through the twisted streets and paths. He wondered if she even knew where they were going, or if she was just wildly choosing routes. The passed by many confused residents who had heard the shouting and who hadn't yet decided whether to run or investigate for some cheap entertainment. He didn't dare turn to see if the police were following them still. Or, worse, the asari ghost that had sent Athena flying.

But, then, there was no gunfire threatening to clip them from behind, so perhaps it was not so foolish to hope they had lost them. But whether or not they'd lose them long enough to get to the ship was debatable.

Vesta was still in his arms as they fled, and she was as quiet as could be. Her wide eyes were squeezed shut and her head was tucked against his chest. Junius couldn't help but feel bad for this poor girl; she seemed completely swept up in all this like a paper boat in a riptide. But wasn't that how life always went.

"_Captain!"_

His attention snapped out of his worried thoughts at the sound of Atropo's voice coming out of Athena's wrist, the screen popping out as her omnitool turned on. The two of them ducked into an empty doorway, hovering over the omnitool as it lit up the dark space with its orange glow.

"Atropo," huffed Athena, out of breath, "good timing. Start her up. We're going."

The pilot looked distracted, worried. _"Hey, it's kind of important, but have you seen the news-"_

There was a clutter from nearby, followed by a few angry shouts that sounded an awful lot like a determined officer of the law demanding to know where a certain trio of aliens had gone. Vesta shivered in Junius' arms.

"Did I fucking stutter?" Athena hissed. "Get the damn ship started. If it's not read to jump by the time I get on it, I'm going to turn your scaley ass into a seat cover for the next stupid ass I hire who won't take orders. Am. I. Clear."

Atropo's mouth momentarily puckered as if he were holding back his own nasty response, but for once his tongue was held in check. _"Yes, ma'am."_

"Good. See you in a bit." With that, she turned off the omnitool, killing the last bit of light in the alley.

A trash can was kicked out of the way only a few feet away, and the pair darted from the doorway, Athena in the lead once more. Apartments, stalls, and people all passed them by, with the latter barely glancing at them before returning to their own business. Strangers fleeing like hell was on their tail was nothing new for the residents of Ilium, after all. Junius hoped that at least a handful of them were close enough to their line of work that they would perhaps take pity and point the cops to a different direction.

The spirits must have been looking out for them at least. They made it to a taxi with no incident, and from there paid for a ride to the docks. The ride was nerve-wracking but, somehow, without incident and all of them got off into the middle of the noon-day rush. The crowds were even thicker than earlier in the morning, forcing them to walk slowly up to their dock. The _Aegis_ was prepared to go, her engines roaring and her lights shining bright. Up on the bridge connecting her to the lane, Sula was waiting with folded arms and a scowl on her mouth. Junius heard his captain let out a relieved sigh as she maneuvered through the busy people, wiping away a sheen of sweat from her forehead.

"Ah, for a second, I didn't think we'd make it."

Sula approached them once they were free of the masses. Immediately, she snapped, "What is she doing here?"

Junius and Athena both looked over to Vesta, who looked away. If he had to pin her expression, Junius would almost say she looked guilty.

"Thanks for asking about our general welfare, doc," grumbled Athena. "Is the ship ready?"

Sula narrowed her lower eyes while the other two remained focused on the drell. "You didn't answer my quest-"

"_Stop!_"

The crew swung around to face the shout, and Junius' blood ran cold. Another asari police officer pushing their way through the crowd; the two from before and another two to spare were in tow. All of them had weapons. All of them looked mad as hell.

"Well, that's our cue to leave!" And with that shout, Athena grabbed Sula by the arm, dragging the batarian with her as she ran for the door. Junius picked up Vesta again and followed. Bullets pinged and bounced the wall of the ship just as the door slammed shut behind them. Sula was fuming loudly at the indignation of her captain as Athena wasted no time in storming up to the bridge; her shouts to Atropo echoed loudly off the metal hallways of the bridge. But Junius was more concerned about something else.

"Are you alright?"

Vesta carefully moved from his arms to stand on her own two feet, still shaking a little. Not that he blamed her. "I think so. But I need to talk to the captain!"

"Why?"

She stared down to the floor, mouth pursing with stress as she held her arms around herself tight. "I... I'm in trouble."

Junius opened his mouth to ask what, but had little time to get the words out. There was a lurch as the ship was released from the dock none too gracefully, kicking in the artificial gravity as Atropo pointed them to the sky. They would be out of the atmosphere in moments, and to the relay shortly after. They were practically home free. Junius let out a sigh of relief; Atropo must have worked quickly to get the ship unlocked from her anchoring point, and a good thing too. Every minute wasted was a minute where the police were probably working to order the dock's personnel to lock them down.

But now was not the time to consider what could have been. Further up the bridge, he could hear shouting.

Motioning for Vesta to follow, he walked towards the source of the shouting and opened the door to the cockpit. The volume of the yelling went up nearly twice. Though he shouldn't have been surprised, he realized; Sula, Athena, and Atropo in the same room always led to some sort of argument.

"Why in the name of the gods damned Pillars is that little skink here!"

Athena waved a hand back towards the bridge. "I didn't have a damn choice, she was right there when the cops showed up!"

Sula's reaction was furious and quick. "You always have a choice! You chose to take her from Omega! You chose to bring her back!" She stabbed a finger in Vesta's direction, all four eyes small and narrow with extreme prejudice. "And now we have a wanted murderer on board!"

The captain balked at that, her mouth clapping shut. "What?"

"It's true." Tyenki, seated calmly in the opposite pilot's seat, pointed toward a frozen frame from the news on the dashboard's screen. Vesta's face stared out at them, the details of her crime laid out in a tidy order. Murder. Theft. On the run.

As one, the entire crew turned to face the small drell. She cringed like a cornered animal.

"I didn't do it," she whispered tearfully. "I didn't."

Sula snorted. "She did. That's why she was really on Omega. She fled, got caught by slavers, and now she wants our protection. Typical."

At the doctor's insults, Vesta stiffened, straightening her backbone a little. "I didn't," she insisted, more firmly this time. "I had no reason to kill him!"

"She's fucking lying," accused Atropo from the pilot's seat, though his attention didn't turn from his controls. "Though I'll give her credit for messing up a jelly. Sounds like he had it coming."

Athena whipped around to point a finger at his face. "You're supposed to be flying the ship to the relay right now. Shut up."

"But-"

"_I didn't kill him!_"

The shout hung in the air, broken only occasionally by the faint humming or beeping of machinery. There was a uniform expression of surprise among the crew, an expression shared by Vesta herself, who didn't quite seem to believe that the defiant bellow. Her eyes were wet with tears, but there was a glimmer of hardness there as well that he hadn't yet seen in her. Taking a moment to gather her breath, she spoke again in a hushed tone.

"I... I didn't kill him. Tharizoa was my friend. My employer. We grew up together from the time we were children. I... I didn't kill him."

"Then why not tell the authorities?" Junius asked gently.

"Because she has the greatest incentive to be the killer." Tyenki got to her feet, moving to look down at the smaller woman, arms crossed. "That's what you were hiding. Wasn't it."

"What the hell are you talking about?" demanded Athena, more agitated than ever. "Someone better start making some goddamn sense, and that's an order."

"I did some research on our friend here as soon as she left the ship. She's not just the accountant for some minor company like we thought. The Zoa family on Kahje controls one of the largest segments of eezo trading in the known galaxy. They have mines everywhere. They're just about the only company that deals in not just Citadel space but Terminus and Attican too. Maybe even the Skyllian Verge. And she was the direct accountant for its current CEO. A hanar by the Tharizoa.

"Only now he's dead. By hanar law, this meant that it would the position, the power, and most of his monetary funds as head of the company would go to his nearest relative. Hanar are big on familial inheritance. But that wasn't how his will was written up." She leaned in close, large eyes narrowing. "Was it."

Vesta swallowed hard. The frills along her neck and cheeks were pale. "Cubozoa was terrible at business," she whispered guiltily. "He's a brilliant business partner when it comes to selling and trading. But that's all he cares about sometimes; he doesn't always follow regulations, and it's gotten people like our miners hurt when he ignores what they need so he doesn't have to spend money. Tharizoa knew it. His family knew it. Eezo is... is a dangerous trade. He... he told me that if something ever happened to him and Cubozoa ever became the one in charge, he would ruin the company and hurt a lot of people. So it had to go to someone the family would consider his closest ally, someone he considered even closer than blood."

She shifted, clearly uncomfortable being in the spotlight of the gaze of a handful of confused or angry mercs. "I... I would have inherited."

"How much?" asked Atropo immediately with glee. Junius struggled not to roll his eyes. Atropo's prejudice only ran so deep, and its tides usually came or went depending on the amount of money involved.

Vesta shot him a dirty look. "It was enough."

"Millions," stated Tyenki casually, like she was running off the cost of a grocery trip. "At least."

There was a small round of cursing in various languages and levels of tone. Athena, especially.

"So this Cubozoa found out, didn't he?" she muttered. "And decided to get rid of a rival, huh."

The drell woman looked close to tears at the idea of it. "No. He was not a perfect person but he... he was not this kind of person..."

Athena smiled, but it had sad sort of sarcastic bite to it that Junius knew quite well. "Yeah, well. That's people for you. One day you think they know you. The next day, they're digging your grave. Now you're on the run, you can't show your face in proper society, and you might never get to go back. Am I right?"

Vesta said nothing. Only stared at the ground, her fists balled tight and large eyes wet. Fearing she might burst into tears, Junius made to reach over and offer a sympathetic touch, but was beaten to it by his captain. She was not nearly as gentle as he would've been though; she clapped her hand hard on the drell's small shoulder, giving her a small shake that yanked her out of her sorrow. As it was, she looked about as surprised as the rest of them did when Athena spoke her next words.

"Well. Sounds like you'll fit right in."


End file.
